Ryan Adams' self-title album is out tomorrow. But today, this little infomercial is the star.

Garry Shandling, Jeff Garlin, Don Was and Bob Mould co-star in this truly bizarre piece of internet ephemera, which may withstand the passage of time due to its use of parakeets and the skittish secretary trope.

Single "Gimme Something Good" also has its moment to shine, if we can call it that.

"Ryan Adams" is out on the singer-songwriter's own PAXAM label, I highly recommend the aforementioned song, along with "Wrecking Ball" and "Trouble." Guests like Johnny Depp, Adams' wife Mandy Moore and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench lend their talents to the set. Here's a great profile of Adams via Buzzfeed.

LOS ANGELES - Stuart Murdoch, frontman and founder of Scotting band Belle & Sebastian, has been juggling a couple projects over the past year. First was his God Help the Girl music side project, then "God Help the Girl," his first film foray as writer and director, and then a brand new album for B&S.

It's the one in the middle, he said in our interview this week, that changed everything. He called the big-screen musical "a whole new thing, I won't ever go back."

"God Help the Girl" -- starring Emily Browning, Hannah Murray (Gilly on "Game of Thrones") and Olly Alexander -- has been on the festival circuit since January. It's set in Murdoch's homebase in Glasgow, with Browning starring as Eve, a young girl struggling with anorexia and other mental health issues, finding temporary relief in songwriting with two new friends. For any fan of Belle & Sebastian, the songs are definitively Murdoch, with the aesthetic, pacing and sound frequently playing like a visual companion or expansion on the band.

And if that's what audiences get from it, then sure, "Just let it be Belle & Sebastian: The Movie," Murdoch said. He said he didn't try at all to stray from his comfort zone, aesthetically, thought working in movies has got his mind whirling about other places to take his "Girl." "I can't imagine this on the stage," he said, though maybe a TV show would fit the bill, "a good half hour thing. 'Seinfeld' without the gags and add a song," he smiled.

Murdoch also gave an update on Belle & Sebastian's as-yet-untitled ninth album, which they recorded in Atlanta with producer Ben Allen, two firsts. The set has a much "open sound, forceful sound... we just left everything out on the field, to use a sporting analogy. A very soulful record."

He confirmed that fans can expect the album in January, and that it will have guest players and singers, including a duet with Dee Dee Penny from the Dum Dum Girls. He'll have his hands on the masters in two weeks, giving him plenty of time to promote what he calls a "Spring record."

Watch the rest of our chat above, for more of Murdoch's thoughts on the link between mental health and creativitiy, the influence of locale on creativity, the musicality of his cast and working out his own demons.

Here is the music video for Nickelback's rising rock single "Edge of a Revolution."

And you may ask yourself: why weren't there smoke machines in your classrooms growing up?

The Wayne Isham-helmed clip features video footage from cultural and political protests like Egypt's Arab Spring and the Occupy movement, along with the four members of the Canadian band performing in a school. Though, kids at home, please don't toss your desks, generally speaking.

"Edge of a Revolution" is safe for work to watch, but don't listen to it loudly in your office, for reasons including the double use of the naughty-word "sh*t." The song will be featured on the group's next album offering, due sometime this fall. Their last effort was 2011's "Here and Now."

Two music videos for Conor Oberst's songs from solo album "Upside Down Mountain" tackle what is a disastrous dystopian future. In May, he dropped the visuals for upbeat and smart single "Zigzagging Toward the Light." Part 2 arrived this week, for track "Common Knowledge."

Watch both in succession below.

This second part of the depressing suite also takes place in New York, 10 years after some sort of cataclysm took place on Earth and knocked out all the electricity. An artificial intelligence force took control and speaks to the world's subjects like a calm and outward-interested singularity from "Her." Oberst here is dealing with the consequences, by wandering the halls of his record home Nonesuch and fondly recalling memories from before the fall.

Here are 5 observations about his next little journey in "Common Knowledge":

1. In a dystopian future, you can smoke indoors again. Zing!

2. In a dystopian future, record labels suffer a lot from what they suffer today: emptied cubes, abandoned office furniture, amazing views of New York City and no way to really enjoy it. Zing?

3. God, New York weather is always so sh*tty.

4. Conor Oberst is a clear liquor man, unless that was distilled a la the liquor Dozer makes in "The Matrix": "It's good for two things, degreasing engines..."

5. I have trouble putting records on the platter when I've been drinking, too, man.

I think the emphasis on "ritual" from the first short film is being expanded and broken (like, literally) here, with the trimming of those truly foul long locks, the mazel tov in busting a bottle, the habits of vice, the burial of the old. Just be careful walking barefoot around broken glass.

"Common Knowledge" is nervous, "fatalistic" and self-destructive -- not nearly as charmed as "Zigzagging," and perhaps that's the point.

Oberst is kicking off a new leg of touring next week, dates below. He's also plotted a single release for Black Friday (Nov. 28), with unreleased "Upside Down Mountain" session songs "Standing on the Outside" and "Sugar Street."

You know when you open up a streaming player or a YouTube video and there are some dischordant mixture of sounds that you sometimes have to pause to make sure there aren't other players or ads somewhere flooding your sound?

It's around the 0:34 mark that I did that the first time on the new Aphex Twin song "mini pops 67 (source field mix)." These dissonances continue in patches, sometimes when least expected. Gorgeous piano rhythms bubble, only to be derailed in vocal slips and sythesizer half-tones. The beat continues, but the downbeat will switch places as the phrase ends, or a flurry of hits come ahead of the "1." Richard D. James' voice falls right in line, but gets manipulated, auto-correct, slurred and fuzzed out in an unexpected -- and delightful -- fashion.

Yup, it sure is an Aphex Twin song. On repeated listens, these tonal experiments become less like studio accidents and more like structured, exciting, intricate and sassy-ass lab work. It's a trip, at high volume. Get all the texture by putting on those cans and chugging through your Friday.

"mini pops 67 (source field mix)" is on Aphex Twin's new album "SYRO," the producer and songwriter's first album in 13 years. It's out Sept. 23 via Warp.

As we previously reported, album sales are at a record all-time low in the U.S. Last week, album sales totaled 3.97 million for the week, marking the first time the tally has dropped below 4 million, unprecedented in the SoundScan era (which kicked off with tracking sales data in 1991).

Billboard -- who has a partnership with SoundScan -- is the first to report album and sales news, the good, the bad and the ugly. Today it was reported that sales are slightly up from that grim news last week, 5% only (to 4.2 million), due to Ariana Grande's fresh "My Everything." But still, that makes it trending low, which Ed Christman said is only to be expected.

"The weekly average number of album sales fell from 4.75 million units in the first quarter to 4.55 million units in the second quarter. In the first 8 weeks of the third quarter, the average has fallen further to 4.2 million. This decline is actually in line with historical trends."

Sales for the year are down 15% compared to totals from the same point last year so far.

Who is buying albums right now?

Let's do a spot cross-section: artists who all have earned No. 1 albums on The Billboard 200 sales chart in 2014.

It says a lot that Tom Petty earned his first No. 1 album ever just this summer. Now, I want you to try and name a Tom Petty song that's fewer that 15 years old. Bruce Springsteen nabbed one week, as did "Weird Al" Yankovic.

Young girls love "5 Seconds of Summer" and the "Frozen" soundtrack. Sweet God, do they ever love "Frozen."

Coldplay, Rick Ross, Beyonce, Eric Church, Jack White, Trey Songz and Ariana Grande had previously earned No. 1 on the chart one or more times. They all have had hit radio singles, No. 1 for each of the genre categories.

"Now 49" and "Now 50" are bred from the same radio single compilation series, for those people who cannot be bothered to cherry-pick their favorite hits. "Guardians of the Galaxy" soundtrack is essentially, too, a hits compilation of late-1960s and '70s hits, aligning with one of the biggest blockbusters of the summer.

There, of course, are many other new and old albums that have sold and sold moderately well in 2014. But start thinking about that long tail -- those indie bands that have a lot of buzz, those 2013 albums that only got heir due (or radio single) later, the popular touring band that has no airplay. And critical acclaim doesn't guarantee that sale -- or even the full-album stream.

5 Ways To Maybe Save A Dismal Year Like This One

1. Adele: She's one of the few post-2000 artists to have passed the 10-million units mark with a single album, for "21," and the only artist to have done it post-2010. Her album spent 24 weeks in the penthouse of The Billboard 200, which also keeps it in the consciousness of the buying public. Likelihood of her sweeping in to save the day? It's September, folks; this month is the time labels start their 3-month album promotional cycle in time for holiday gift season. There has been no single farmed from her new album -- purportedly called "25." She's said over and over again that she'll take her sweet time producing her next, especially after vocal cord surgery and having a baby. Not really counting on her pulling a Beyonce and surprising us either. So, low chance but weirdly possible, with many limitations.

2. Taylor Swift: "Shake It Off" is definitely a song you'll hear for a year straight. She's got her next album "1989" set for October and the Swift brand is still on the rise: Swift is squarely out of the "country" category now and into the A-list celebrity and artistry world, here to stay for young buyers as well as those who "grew up" with her handful of hits from each album. Released in October 2012, her previous "Red" sold a brain-blowing 1.21 million copies in its first week, and while this new one may not fare nearly as well this fall, "1989" will be far-and-away one of the best-selling albums this year. But save the year? She'll have to sing at every ballgame, awards show, late-night TV show and morning show on top of making the purchase of her album more appealing (or the only option -- she didn't let Spotify stream "Shake It Off," users could only YouTube, buy or find their way around).

3. An Eminem album plus a Drake or a Kanye or Jay Z album: Best-seller Eminem's "Recovery" fared well two years ago, but not Adele-well. Sometimes, rap artists help amplify the sales of other rap artists, or come seemingly in a package (Young Money acts, Watch the Throne, etc.). While Kanye West and Nicki Minaj are guaranteed to sell well on their own, they couldn't do enough to dent this stinker of a sales run this year. Eminem is helping release the Shady Records "ShadyXV" compilation this fall, but not a new studio album. So no go on this front -- if Minaj wants to put an onsale date on her "Pinkprint," though, we're all for it. Just need to rock the Top 5 in airplay with "Anaconda" or otherwise first if she wants to make a big move on album sales. Notice I did not bring up Lil Wayne's "Tha Carter V." Because I dunno, man.

4. A gangbusters Christmas album: These new titles will hit starting in October, and tend to make up some sleeper sales late in the year, on top of albums purchased as stocking stuffers for family. But, I mean, it'd have to be a Michael Buble duets album with Mariah Carey and special guest Susan Boyle, or Bing Crosby returning from the dead to personally ring your doorbell and hand you a copy of whatever's there to shill. Or, hey, we hear "Frozen's" still popular, how 'bout Josh Gad singing "Silent Night."

5. Sale! Sale! Sale! And not just on Black Friday. Billboard requires a minimum $3.49 price tag in the first four weeks of release for an album to count toward their chart, and charting is important to many labels. Though, can you imagine, if CDs were $5, and all the digital sales of albums were $3.50 for a day, and it all was promoted across the board in a disgusting display of the reduced value of art (or "art")? Gnashing of teeth, counting of dollars, uptick in "sales." Also: never gonna happen.

What won't work to help this poor sales year?

That Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett standards album: Promotion on "Cheek to Cheek" is warm right now, and Bennett is catnip to older buyers, especially those who helped shoot "Duets II" up to the summit in 2012 (179,000 first week). Gaga's "Artpop" also made No. 1, with 258,000 first-week. But don't go thinking combining the two will make Taylor Swift numbers, maybe more like 300,000. The two could be doing more together than archival studio videos, and the ought to do that soon, since it's due in less than three weeks.

These best-sellers combined: Chris Brown, Jennifer Hudson, Lady Antebellum, Weezer and Foo Fighters all have confirmed albums due this fall. The latter actually stands a chance of taking a big bite into sales, due to a bump of exposure from the series of the same name (created by Dave Grohl) on HBO. Maroon 5 (out this week with "V") is going to do well. But not Adele well.

Rumored albums: Rihanna, U2 and One Direction have sent out whiffs of fall/holiday releases. Has the hype cooled on all them, however?

"The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1" soundtrack: It's being curated by Lorde, so who the heck knows what all she'll slap on there. That movie, though? Will take all the money that's left over the holidays.

Oh, so there still might be good music out there. Why are sales still falling so badly?

This is a gimme. CD and digital album sales are both falling. There's been a decreasing number of brick-and-mortar stores (ones you actually, physically, walk into) because specialty shops closed and the big boxes like Best Buy and Wal-mart aren't gonna keep sinking money into stock they can't move (including smaller, harder-to-find releases).

There are some young people who will never buy a CD in their life. Some haven't ever even bought an album, whether on Amazon or iTunes, Best Buy or Amoeba or Barnes & Noble. Single sales in 2013, though, were also down...

But streaming is up. Before, it was just piracy and illegal downloading eating away at sales, starting in 2000. Now it's Spotify and Pandora on top of that.

TV On The Radio is feeling a little moody. A little distraught, a little post-grunge sad. "Happy Idiot," the rock band's first single off their new album "Seeds" is super-pop, and yet bumming out in the corner of the party.

Tunde Adebimpe sings about becoming that happy idiot in a blaze of teenaged feelings -- banging his head against the wall to feel nothing at all, et cetera -- as the band bounds underneath him at a health BPM. I'm particularly keen on those drums and the tamborine, and the tight adherence to the melody.

But it's simple. There's a restraint like a Nirvana verse that never quite pays off. Will the rest of "Seeds" be equally resistant to The Big Chorus?

"Seeds" is due Nov. 18 via Harvest. Fans may want to pre-order the album, giving them pre-sale access to the few fall tour dates the Brooklyn crew's announced so far. The "Happy Idiot" lyric video precedes the dates.

There are also some artists we could have looked at and gone, "ehhh..." Mariah Carey has had a rough go for the last three years. Robin Thicke wrote his destiny when he named his album "Paula." Justin Bieber didn't kick off his 20th year on this earth with great acclaim.

In the slides below, we point out some of what worked and what didn't some we couldn't tell was coming. Who'd heard of a little band called Magic!, for instance? How about that first No. 1 album from Tom Petty? And, whoa, how 'bout that Weird Al?

For all the sex he's getting on the road, for all the drugs he's taking, and for all the times he sings about all of it, no wonder his video are always gray-hued, with washed out specters of women floating about him like he's the center of the saddest little universe.

But, damn Weeknd, can't it be any fun at all? Because lines like "She gon' give it up 'cause she know she might like it" (ugh) and "All my hoes are trained, I make all of them swallow" (TRIPLE UGH) are depressing as hell for your females, what are you dragging your sad-ass feet for?

I'm referring to "King of the Fall," a title so morose Drake's kicking himself for not thinking of it first. And the Toronto connect is a propos, as The Weeknd (aka Abel Tesfaye) takes a stroll through his hometown, with cameos from locals like Jazz Cartier. While the slow-motions between beddings and parties and the street keep the singer and producer looking cool, check out the Confederate flag up at the world's most melancholy dance fiesta. How about the rain and the pace and the longing glances when Adderall is his atmosphere? Someone should call his mom, because I'm freaked out.

All this: a shame, because "King of Pain," er, "King of the Fall" is one of the better engineered and mixed songs we've heard from The Weeknd ever. It's a slow creep (heh), with a crescendo that will have you thinking you've got a midget on your chest too.

It arrives on the heels of another new single from Weeknd, "Often," out last week, which has a similarly looping, repeating, sweet-dripping chorus that belies an equally messed up premise of one of his one-night-stands: he does it how he wants it, and is happy to hand off that pussy to one of his crew when he's done.

Hey, he's talking about groupies: we could talk about power, fame, empowerment, gender and commodification for days. There, again, though is that deficit, a melancholy that creeps into seemingly all of The Weeknds endeavors, making these ballads and especially the music videos hurt for the audience like a VD flare-up. He's not extolling his life as healthy, he hints at the "temporary-ness" of it, but then again here are a series of women as props, clothed and unclothed, "performing" for the Dr. Frownpants who need do little else in his videos except float through them, like it's all "happening" to him, almost like a victim and not a participant. (Robin Thicke has a penchant for that too.)

If only he didn't sing so beautifully? If only some of those choices on synths and beats didn't hurt so hard with him? Wishing this was in gibberish.

"Often" and "King of the Fall" arrive ahead of The Weeknd's outing with Jhene Aiko for the King Of The Fall Tour, four dates below.

The artist is preparing a Sept. 16 release of her next album, "This Is My Hand," and today HitFix exclusively premieres the title track from the set.

Like the full-length, "This Is My Hand" is lush and intense, sensual but confrontational, arranged with detail and imploringly original. All songs feed into an effort that Worden says "tortured" her, at least when it came to crafting lyrics.

But it's exactly those hard-fought lyrics that My Brightest Diamond wants fans to riff on: launching today, the songwriter invites listeners to ThisIsMyHand.com, to take a picture that matches the lyrics and use Instagram tags to send her way, to help compile a crowdsourced music video entirely from those images.

Below, I interview Worden on "This Is My Hand" and her recent EP "None More Than You" and writing about her whole self. Tracklists, tour dates and more are beyond that.

"This Is My Hand" arrives next month via Asthmatic Kitty, and was recorded in Berlin, New York, Los Angeles and Detroit with producer Zac Rae. It is her fourth album, coming on the heels of 2011's "All Things Will Unwind." You can pre-order "This Is My Hand" here.

HitFix: You're releasing your album only a couple of months after you dropped your EP. How has your opinion changed over they years on the value of an "album" -- versus the compiling and releasing of EPs, singles, music videos, et cetera?

Shara Worden: I love making records. I love the history of the form. This is our fourth record since 2006, so we have seen a lot of changes in the industry to be sure. When I first started thinking about making another album, I did feel pretty bleak about the value of recorded music, but then I did a lot of reading and thinking and inputting, and then became really excited about the process again. I made a big pile of recordings this time around, writing at least 20 songs and then we chose the material that made the most sense as a unit, and the other songs we are releasing as EPs.

"This Is My Hand," lyrically, is already so illustrative -- and very inspirational. What do you hope to achieve by opening up the music video to fan submissions of visuals?

I was writing this album thinking about an imaginary tribe of people, gathering around a fire, making music together, telling stories, hearing from the shaman, and so of course I also imagined everyone dancing, but then when I went to make "dance music" I realized how I have spent so much of my life disassociating from the body. I was brought up in a conservative Christian culture that in essence said the body was "evil" and then also as a female musician, from early on I felt that I wasn't going to be taken seriously as a musician if I was also dancing, so I just shut off my connection and focused on my mind.

This song is really about self acceptance and re-integrating the WHOLE self and there is so much happening right now across the globe, with body image, our sexuality, slavery, racism, that I just feel like this song belongs to "the larger tribe" and I want to open up this video format so that more people can have a "ritual" of sorts, accepting themselves and the tribe shows itself to be beautiful and varied as possible.

There are lines in this song and others on the album that reference female-ness, and play with sex and gender. Can you talk about any evolution or approach you've had to incorporating these themes in your compositions?

As I began making this music, uncharacteristically starting from the beats first, I was really forced to deal with my questions about my body, my sensuality, my sexuality, and even the violence and love that I am capable of, and embracing all aspects of who I am as a human being. It still feels like I'm in a process on the subject that is going to continue for a long time.

Describe the most challenging day, instrumentally, you had in the studio for this album.

All of the instrumental aspects of this record felt super easy, actually. All the musicians are such incredible artists, but strangely enough it was the lyrics for this album that really tortured me. Normally lyrics have been my foundation, but this time around I ended up changing almost half the songs, some of which had existed for at least two years at the last minute. I knew that I had to be more vulnerable and more honest, so there were a lot of desperate moments where it felt like I was pushing on this wall that I had to crumble and it was really quite scary and then on the other side, it feels quite liberating.